SCANDINAVIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 92, 18 April 1940, Page 8

SCANDINAVIA

HITLER'S AIMS

TOLD IN HIS OWN WORDS

RAUSCHNING'S NOTES

I When Hermann Jlauschning's book, "Hitler Speaks," was published last December, most readers and reviewers were inclined to take these so-called "Political Conversations with Adolf Hitler and His Real Aims" (in the words of the sub-title) with a pinch of salt, so frank did the revelations seem and so incredible the aims, even after "Mem Kampf." Time and events, however, seem to be proving Rauschning right. Only this week. the Daventry broadcaster quoted a passage from Rauschning giving Hitler's "real aims" in Scandinavia. The full passage—the announcer only gave a sen-tence-or twor—is so, interesting that it may be /quoted here. Hitler had previously referred in conversation with Rauschning to his plans for a greater Germany which included Sweden—he did not mention Norway—and would ultimately include j the British Empire, which he declared j had become too soft to defend itself, i He had said, according to Rauschning, "The day of small States is past, in the west as well. I make no distinction between Friends and Enemies." SWEDEN THE OBJECTIVE.. Later in a conversation in Lubeck. early in the summer of 1934 ; he discussed with Rauschning at length the actual plan to deal with Sweden. He said that in the next war one of his first measures must be to occupy Sweden. He could not, he said, leave the Scandinavian countries either to British or to Russian influence. Then Rauschning comes in (page 143): I suggested that the military subjugation of tliis vast, and to a large extent wild, peninsula must entail a disproportionate drain on our resources. To this Hitler replied thai there was no question of occupying the entire country, but only the important ports and industrial centres, above all, the iron-ore mines. "It will be a daring but interesting undertaking, never before attempted j in the history of the world." he pointed out. "Pi'otected by the fleet, and with the co-operation of the air force, I shall order a series of unexpected individual exploits. The Swedes will nowhere be prepared to put up a sufficiently strong defence., But even if one or other of these exploits should fail, the overwhelming majority of strategic points will be held."

NORWAY A PRELIMINARY? This passage, whether compiled from r notes taken by Rauschning of Hitler's conversations or recreated from memory, would be sufficient in itself to place "Hitler Speaks" on the map. It may be objected that Rauschning makes Hitler-speak of and not of Norway, but the attack on Norway is obviously a preliminary to an attack on Sweden (or a bloodless absorption of Sweden) with the purpose of cutting off any possible help for Sweden from the Allies through Norwegian ports. Moreover, Hitler is reported as saying that he wanted Scandinavia as a base for an attack on the British Empire. On the same page Rauschning gives Hitler's explanation of his methods of attack from within which corresponds to an extraordinary i degree with recent events: On my expressing surprise, he (Hitler) added that to ensure the political success of this enterprise, it would be absolutely necessary to ■ possess a close network of supporters and sympathisers in Sweden. The Norwegian Nazis seem to have gone a long way towards selling their country to Hitler, and the Nazi influence is,' or was, according to account, even stronger in Sweden. BLOOD OR IRON? There is one further point. The Scandinavians are about the purest race —Aryan, if you like—in Europe. Rauschning said that when he first heard of these plans of Hitler, he re-fused-'tov take them seriously. Now (that is when he wrote the book last year) he believes they should be taken seriously. Mark the sequel, and also this impression on Rauschning, "One thing, however, is certain: Hitler is | not interested in the pure Aryan blood of the' Scandinavians,. nor in the northern myths of Viking heroism. He is interested in the iron-ore mines." On the general Nazi technique of war from within and the "bloodless victory." Rauschning has "much to say, with quotations Irom Hitler's talks or; speeches. The German overseas communities, he says, have "become the breeding ground of a mushroom growth of propaganda, flourishing in the dark, which has run through all the stages up to effective espionage.") Then he quotes an address of Hitler to a meeting of overseas Germans in 1934:— "As the front line of our German fighting movement, you will make it { possible for us to complete the occu- 11 pation of our positions and to open fire. You have all the functions that we older men carried out in the last war. You are the army's outposts. , You will have to prepare definite enterprises far in advance of the . front. You will have to mask our own preparations for attack. You must regard yourselves as at war. ... It will depend on you, gentlemen, whether we reach our goal with comparative ease and without bloodshed. You must prepare the ground. . . . We do not seek equality, but mastery. ... It will be your task to lead these conquered countries in the name of the German people. You shall be my viceroys .. . ." { Rauschning claims that he kepi' notes, taken immediately afterwards, of his conversations with Hitler. The authenticity of his record in the view of readers will be much enhanced by what has happened in Norway.

as from May 31 and that consideration be given to the formation of a football ground on the hillside near the Miramar North School. . ■ A financial statement of the operation of the camp ■at March 31 last showed an excess of receipts over payments of £1132. The receipts totalled [ £2015 13s 5d and'the payments £882 14s 9d. The construction ~ account at the same date stood at £13,507 6s 2d, made up as follows:—Construction and formation costs, £7049 15s*2d; acquisition of land, £3269 10s Id; erection of conveniences, etc., £2911 9s 8d; erection of memorial gates, £242 11s 3d; purchase of safe, £34. The subsidy on wages was £236 17s 7d and the proportion of Government subsidy £3317 12s 2d.